JEFFERSON TWP — A Sunday night fire made quick work of a 150-year-old house that was sold less than three weeks ago, authorities said.

A passing motorist shortly before 10 p.m. spotted flames coming from the home in the 400 block of Riemer Road and called 911.

“The entire house was engulfed when we got there and we couldn’t make any kind of entry,” said Chief Chris Ballina of the Saxonburg Volunteer Fire Company. “Fire was shooting through all the windows and it burned through the roof minutes later.”

Crews had to use a tanker shuttle to supply water because there are no fire hydrants in the area.

It appeared the blaze started in the rear of the house.

“The front of the house is still standing but the back of the house is completely gone,” Ballina said.

It took several hours before the fire was out.

“The back side of the house collapsed and there was a lot of debris on fire,” Ballina said. “We had a hard time smothering it.”

The state police fire marshal was called but it was not immediately known if that office would even bother with an investigation.

“There’s so much damage that a cause will probably never be known,” Ballina acknowledged.

News of the fire shocked former owner Colette Sharkins of Cheswick, Allegheny County. She and her late husband bought the house in 2002, according to Butler County Assessment Office records.

Sharkins told the Butler Eagle her husband died shortly after they remodeled the house.

She placed the home up for sale in September or October.

“I just closed on it Jan. 7,” she said.

The new owners apparently had yet to move in. Fire officials said they found few belongings and just a little furniture inside.

“It didn’t look like anyone was living there,” Ballina said.

A damage estimate was not immediately available.

Along with a lack of water and the stubborn fire, Saxonburg firefighters had to deal with another problem — weather.

The department’s engine got stuck on the ice-covered driveway. Chains were placed on the engine’s tires but to no avail. Eventually, a tanker had to be called in and pulled the engine out.

It wouldn’t be until nearly 3:30 a.m. today that Saxonburg crews were finally back at their station.

Assisting the Saxonburg VFC were firefighters from Winfield, Sarver, Herman, Buffalo Township and Penn Township.